


The Dangers of Doing Laundry

by WorryinglyInnocent



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, enchanted forest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-27
Updated: 2015-01-27
Packaged: 2018-03-09 07:47:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3241844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WorryinglyInnocent/pseuds/WorryinglyInnocent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle has a slight mishap whilst doing laundry at the Dark Castle and comes to a practical solution. Rumpel mistakenly believes Belle is in trouble and sees rather more of his little maid than he intended. Rated for naked!Belle and what we shall euphemistically term 'impure thoughts'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Dangers of Doing Laundry

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by screencaps of the laundry scene from 4x11 'Heroes and Villains'

Belle does not mind doing laundry so much in the summer months. In winter it is far less enjoyable because it must still be done outside and the constant change between scalding hot water in the washtub and chill air on her wet hands makes her fingers sore and painful. But at the height of summer, like now, it isn’t as bad. In fact, it’s quite nice to be out of doors in the sunshine instead of cooped up inside dusting, and the washing is drying very quickly in the warm summer breeze. Stopping to enjoy the air against her face, Belle loses her focus and her grip and the precarious stack of sheets in her arms drops into the washtub with a splash, splattering her from head to toe in sudsy water and soaking her to the skin.

She sighs and pushes a wet curl out of her eyes. Typical. Now she’ll have to go inside and change, but her other clothes are still damp from last night. Belle is certain that Rumpelstiltskin will give her more clothing if she asks for it, but she’s not yet found an opportune or appropriate moment. He seems to be avoiding her lately. So, as it stands, she only has two sets of underwear, which she washes in her room at the end of each day and leaves to dry through the next. Until now, this method has always worked quite well. Then there’s the small matter of her dress, of which she only has the one unless she wishes to do laundry in her golden gown. She’s done it before, before Rumpel realised that it was really not practical wear for a caretaker and provided her with her (now sodden) blue dress.

It’s then that Belle looks at the drying shirts all around her, and she has an idea. It’s not like there’s anyone about to see her after all, and it’s a warm day.

She takes off her dress and dumps it in the washtub with the batch of linen, and after a moment’s consideration, her chemise and drawers join it. May as well kill several birds with one stone. Belle wonders what would happen if Rumpel were to come home earlier than expected and find her doing his laundry in the nude. He’s away visiting some far off kingdom who promised him all manner of impossible things in return for his aid, and he is not due back until after nightfall. Whilst she knows he listens in to her, she’s not quite sure if he can see her wherever she is, and the thought makes her blush. Not quite as much as she imagines he would blush though. Well, it’s his own fault for playing the Peeping Tom, or Peeping Dark One in this case.

A particularly teasing breeze dances over her bare backside and Belle pauses, arms plunged deep into the washtub and eyes closed, and she can almost pretend that the touch of the eddying air is that of gentle fingertips, claws tracing patterns over her skin never hard enough to leave a mark. She wonders if he would take her like this, bent over the tub as she is, and the thought sends a shiver of desire down her spine.

Belle scolds herself for the inappropriate train of thought and continues to wash the clothes and linens. But all the same, she cannot stop her mind from wandering into a little fantasy world.

_She doesn’t notice his presence until he speaks._

_“I’m assuming that there is a reason why you felt it necessary to strip before you began the laundry?”_

_Belle turns to face him as he stands in the midst of the drying sheets, and she enjoys the way his eyes roam over her body._

_“I had a slight accident with the washing water,” she says, “and I have no spare clothes.”_

_“That is indeed a shame, dearie. You’ll just have to go naked until they’re dry.”_

_“I can’t see that being a problem for me,” Belle replies, “but I wonder if you will be able to cope?” She eyes the bulge at the front of his trousers and raises an eyebrow pointedly._

Belle is quite certain that this is not the way that it would pan out should it happen in real life, and she smiles wryly at the thought as she hangs up her now-clean clothes to dry. Still, since Rumpelstiltskin is away, there is no harm in a little speculation.

_“I’m not sure,” Rumpel says, taking a measured step towards her, and then another, until they are only a couple of inches apart. “But luckily, I intend to put a very swift end to my predicament.”_

_He closes the gap between them and Belle can feel him hot and hard against her thigh as moves the tendrils of hair that have fallen over her shoulders to let him see her breasts uninhibited. His eyes are hungry and there’s a gruff desperation in his voice as he lowers his mouth to her décolletage._

_“Oh Belle…”_

_“Rumpel…”_

X

_“Rumpel…”_

That’s Belle’s voice. Belle is calling for him and she sounds rather… breathless. Something must be wrong. Is she in danger? It’s laundry day after all, and bad things have been known to happen on laundry days in the past. Maybe he should stop her doing any laundry, it’s far too risky a past time. Not that he cares about her, of course, that would be ridiculous. It’s just that good help is so hard to find these days and it would be a nightmare to try and replace her. Far more trouble than she’s worth.

His business in Agrabah is finished and he’s been spending the last half an hour amusing himself by watching the princess’s pet tiger chase the royal vizier around the palace gardens, so he feels no shame in rushing straight home to Belle’s aid.

The garden is quiet when he arrives, and Rumpelstiltskin moves silently through the hanging linens and shirts, hoping to take the idiot who dares to attack Belle, ahem, the idiot who dares to trespass on his property, by surprise. He’s stopped short by the sight of Belle’s blue dress hanging on the line, next to a chemise and drawers that definitely do not belong to him.

There’s slightly off-key humming beyond the sheets, and it sounds like Belle’s. Raising an eyebrow at this rather unexpected turn of events, Rumpelstiltskin peers around the edge of the nearest sheet and immediately ducks back, eyes widened by what he has seen.

Belle is there with her back to him, busy at the washtub, completely unharmed.

And completely naked.

_Why_  is she completely naked?

He risks another glance around the edge of the sheet but no, his eyes do not deceive him. Belle is doing the laundry with no clothes on.

Coherent thought almost deserts Rumpelstiltskin completely at that point, but he retains enough of his sanity to realise that charging into the little laundry clearing yelling ‘Belle! Are you all right? Why are you naked?’ is not a good idea. His poor maid would be absolutely mortified and would probably never speak to him again and that would be an awful shame. Sadly, this is the only thought that crosses his increasingly addled mind and he just stands there in his own garden, hiding behind one of his own bed sheets, at a complete and utter loss.

Surely it wouldn’t hurt to look, though, as long as Belle doesn’t catch him at it.

He takes another quick peep round the edge of the sheet and withdraws because Belle has turned round and is now facing him, hands on her hips as she surveys the drying laundry, and she almost spots him.

She’s…

She’s…

Rumpelstiltskin is at a complete loss for words, which is a very unusual position for him.

She’s utter perfection, from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, and every other bit of her in between. He’d quite like to suggest that she does all the housework in the altogether, but he doesn’t want to think of the fallout from that suggestion.

From her mutterings, he surmises that she ended up getting rather wet during the laundry, and that is the reason for her current state of undress. She suddenly comes though the sheets, straight past Rumpelstiltskin without noticing him, and she goes over to where her clothes are hanging. Rumpelstiltskin allows himself one final look at her beautiful body before vanishing back into the castle to take care of the growing problem in his trousers, and possibly to provide his maid with a few more sets of clothes…


End file.
